News

EAST CAMDEN (March 31, 2016) – Nearly 200 people
gathered on a rain-soaked field Thursday to witness the ceremonial “flipping of
the switch” to the state’s largest solar installation, a 12MW solar plant that
will power 30 percent of the energy needs for defense contractor Aerojet
Rocketdyne and supply low-cost energy to the state’s 550,000 rural electric
customers.

The ceremony was staged under a large tent just
outside the fence line to the sprawling 76-acre solar field in the Highland
Industrial Park, East Camden. The
facility consists of 151,200 solar panels which are ground mounted, single-axis
tracking installations to maximize generating capacity. The field will produce more than 30 million
KWH of electricity annually.

Matt Kisber, President and CEO of Silicon Ranch
Corporation, the owner-operator of the facility, said it was a singular
achievement of multiple entities that worked in concert to make the day’s event
possible.

"We could not ask for a better partnership to
bring the first large-scale solar energy facility to Arkansas," Kisber
said. "Silicon Ranch echoes the importance of bringing renewable
generation to rural America. This project should assist in additional positive
economic impact for the Camden area while providing a reliable, low-cost energy
source for Aerojet Rocketdyne and AECC."

The plant was actually completed in late 2015 and
has endured a series of tests to ensure its viability.

"We are proud to report the testing period that
began at the end of November has produced zero power anomalies, and with the
unusually sunny Arkansas winter we have been witness to the exciting potential
solar has in Arkansas," said Gary Vaughan, Aerojet Rocketdyne director of
Production Operations, Camden. "Silicon Ranch and their construction
partner, McCarthy Building Companies, produced a world-class solar facility
that will benefit the company and the region today, and in the future."

AAEA was an early advocate for the project and
Silicon Solar Ranch is business member and Annual Innovator Sponsor of the Association. Aerojet Rocketdyne and the Arkansas Electric
Cooperatives are the power purchasers for the project.

Remarks by U.S. Senators Tom Cotton and John Boozman
and U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman led off the event. They praised the economic value of the
development and its importance to national security as a low-cost energy
resource for one of the nation’s premier defense weapons manufacturers.

A renewable energy project for southern Arkansas was
initially envisioned 10 years ago, according to one of its chief advocates, Dr.
Corbet Lamkin, Chancellor Emeritus, Southern Arkansas University Tech, who
recognized a long list of public officials and electric power industry leaders
for their support.

“A lot of people poked fun and laughed at this idea
over the years but today we can see the product of a private-public
partnership,” Dr. Lamkin said.

Lamkin said that SAU first developed a distributed
generation proposal that its technology team presented to the U.S. Department
of Agriculture in 2008.

Aerojet Vice President Chris Conley said the solar
plant would be a source of pride and inspiration for the company’s 600 on-site
workers. He also recognized its
environmental and economic benefit.

Michael Henderson, Executive VP, Arkansas Electric
Cooperative Corp., said the solar facility will add to the company’s
non-emitting resource mix, which also includes hyrdro and wind power that
produced 17 percent of the company energy needs in 2015.

In a press release generated by AECC, CEO Duane
Highley said "this innovative partnership benefits electric cooperative
members by providing predictable energy cost and contributing to the strong economic
growth in the Camden area."

Many speakers credited Erik Didriksen, Safety,
Health and Environmental Strategist for Aerojet Rocketdyne, as the consistent,
determined driver of the project.

Dr. Corbin said the project had its genesis when
Aerojet assigned Didricksen from its Sacramento offices to find a way to take
advantage of southern Arkansas’s rich natural resources to reduce the company’s
energy costs and develop a zero-carbon emitting power source.

Didriksen said that in the beginning there was
significant disagreement with AECC officials about if and how the project could
go forward. “But at the end of the day I
learned that the people of Arkansas are always going to do what’s right for
Arkansas,” Didricksen said.

Mark Cayce, General Manager & CEO, Ouachita
Electric Cooperative Corp., was a consistent supporter of the project and
identified by Didricksen as a “quiet cheerleader.”

“The fact that we can harvest the sun to make sure
the quality of life in East Camden, and South Arkansas is the best it can be is
a chief motivator to complete this project,” Cayce said. “This is a sustainable energy resource that
will benefit generations to come.”

Other key contributors that were recognized during
the ceremony included Scott Hamilton, then Director of the Arkansas Energy
Office, who acted as a convener of key officials who were needed to complete
the project, and Gene Hill, President of Highland Industrial Park, who was a
consistent supporter who made the 76-acre site available to developers.

McCarthy Building Companies installed the facility
and FirstSolar supplied the equipment, all of which was manufactured in the
U.S.

The project is also a key element in Calhoun
County’s competition for the Georgetown University Energy Prize. Calhoun County is among the 30 finalists
competing for the prize which will be awarded next year to the
community/utility partnership that demonstrates “innovative, replicable,
scalable and continual reductions in the per capita energy consumed from local
natural gas and electric utilities.”